(USNewsMag.com) – New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that it’s been quite a while since he’s had a meeting with President Joe Biden, who has spent the last year ducking the ongoing immigration crisis impacting the Big Apple.
In a recent press conference, Adams was asked about how difficult it’s been to meet with the president about the immigration crisis, a direct result of the continued surges at the US-Mexico border. The mayor said he met with Biden “several times” on the issue in 2021 or “early 2022,” but that “the dates get confused.”
Adams said that it “battles” him because his city is “the economic engine” of New York state “and of the country,” yet he doesn’t “have the answer” to the reporter’s question.
The New York mayor also noted that a group of mayors from other Democrat-run cities impacted by the crisis have formed a coalition to pressure the White House to do more to mitigate that impact. The group has collectively requested at least $5 billion in additional aid from the federal government and other actions, such as expediting work permit approvals for immigrants and helping with efforts to resettle them.
Adams said he has “to keep hammering away” at the issue and is “pleased” that “a chorus of other cities” are now joining the Big Apple in the fight.
Over the last year, more than 150,000 new arrivals from over the southern border have made their way to New York and into the city’s shelter system. Although this number pales in comparison to the total number of people who’ve entered the US and to what border states like Texas and Arizona are dealing with, Adams warned a few months ago that the ongoing influx could “destroy” the city if something more isn’t done. He’s also criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for sending as many migrants out of the Lone Star State and into other states as possible.
New York is currently dealing with huge budget cuts in education, sanitation, and policing, which Adams said are due to the costs of the migrant crisis. Meanwhile, the Biden administration recently sent a delegation to Mexico to discuss joint efforts to mitigate the problems at the border.
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